Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I would have done two masses easily and the bell would have been heard three counties away. The House has become quieter since then, however.

Sinn Féin welcomes these reports but there is still a long way to go. The reports undoubtedly capture some of what happened but people seem to fall for the bluff every time. During the 2007 election campaign, Fine Gael and the Labour Party were substantially ahead of the Government until a little tremor occurred in the final few weeks. I will leave it to others to decide whether that was due to a television interview or a debate. The tax auction reached the point where I thought no tax would be collected in the subsequent year. The public fell for it when they were told the good times would last forever even though the more measured heads among us cautioned otherwise. The Ceann Comhairle will attest that land prices in our constituency were such that one could not afford to purchase a square metre. People had to borrow small fortunes to buy sites in the areas in which they were born and reared. In some cases, people were getting loans for house extensions without ever filling in or signing a form. How was that sustainable?

The crisis arose on two fronts, the personal and the corporate. I have just given a flavour of the personal aspects in my part of the world but the corporate aspect was really interesting. One of the best examples is the Glass Bottle site, which was sold for a multiple of its value. The story of that purchase remains to be told in detail but, of course, our old Seánie was up to his neck in it. He was not only in a conflict of interest by lending money to a body of which he was a board member but it is no secret who appointed him. The reports indicate that the practice of what some high office holders regarded as putting the right people in the right places was par for the course. The Honohan report states in a footnote: "Although it became quite clear to top FR decision-makers that senior Anglo figures were well-liked in political circles". The author never quite explained what he meant by that fascinating insight when he appeared before the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service earlier this week. I will not rehearse further extracts from the report because if I did so, I would want to read it again in its entirety.

The motion also deals with the establishment of the commission of investigation. I am concerned about the exclusion of Government policy from the terms of reference of the commission because this was the main cause of the crisis. An all-party Oireachtas committee should be established to closely investigate what happened. It is critical that a consensus be achieved on the terms of reference rather than having them imposed by the Government. We need to merge the two reports.

Transparency in Government and the banking system is integral to the reputation of a financial sector which serves the needs of everyone in this State. Nothing short of public scrutiny is acceptable from the banking inquiry. We must call to account Ministers, leaders of political parties, top bankers and the regulatory institutions which succumbed to an unruly financial sector. The inquiry should be completely public and conducted on an all-party basis with the support of outside experts. The systemic failures that pre-empted this banking crisis and the fact that many of those involved are still in their positions requires a fully transparent examination of the facts.

The Government excluded its fiscal policy from the terms of reference for the commission of inquiry, focusing instead on the role of regulation and internal management within the banks. However, the Minister for Finance has asked the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service to prepare a report on the Government's macro-economic policy. While this aspect of public scrutiny is welcome, the manner in which the inquiry is being conducted is unacceptable. The taxpayer is being put to further expense because we have, on the one hand, a Judiciary-led inquiry tasked with investigating some aspects of the crisis and relying heavily on the work conducted by Patrick Honohan and, on the other, an investigation by the joint committee into the Government's macro-economic policies. This is being done on foot of the two preliminary reports released last week. The public deserves an holistic inquiry into the banking crisis. The crisis did not occur because of isolated and unrelated events and as such, the inquiry should be conducted jointly.

After all, Irish banks went on a reckless spending spree, having been encouraged to do so by venal politicians who actively discouraged regulation and provided a phenomenal array of tax breaks to developers at a time of cheap money and easy credit. As we all know, Fianna Fáil Party politics acted as a catalyst for the crisis.

The invitation extended to the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service falls short in that it is not an all-party committee and there would not be sufficient cross-party representation on the committee which is conducting the investigation into the Government's macroeconomic policy. To lock this inquiry into a restrictive commission of investigation with inadequate terms of reference and a veil of secrecy is unacceptable. Furthermore, splitting the investigation into a two-pronged inquiry by the commission and Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service is inadequate.

Those who have suffered most from the failures of the banking crisis will not be privy to full, open disclosure during the course of the commission inquiry. Rather, the commission and separate committee reports may end up couching the faults of the Government and letting it off the hook again, which would not be acceptable.

Today's meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service heard that large swathes of the population are suffering, with people losing their homes and businesses. Many are tormented and cannot sleep at night, such is the level of debt they owe. In many cases, their problems are not of their own making because they did not have available to them the financial expertise available to bankers and lenders. Lenders failed to take cognisance of the financial constraints that should have applied in such cases. The consequences of this failure have been catastrophic.

Moreover, €22 billion has been invested in Anglo Irish Bank and the joint committee was informed this morning that a further sum of at least €10 billion will be required. What is taking place is frightening and unacceptable. Let us hope we can get a shape on it sooner rather than later.

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